For those who do not see the least bit of entertainment in the procedure called ‘structural inspection,’ we may prove to you it can be as intense as watching a world cup finale. Especially if we’re talking about the findings made by California-based Alpha Structural, Inc.
These guys have seen it all—from rotting decks to crumbling foundations, falling walls, and very ingenious “we have it at home”-type of solutions. But that’s the job of these experts who are used to running into structural disasters where instead of cement holding it all together, you get pure luck.
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So buckle up and scroll down for Alpha Structural’s most recent discoveries that will make you sigh, gasp, and even emit one or two swear words. And after you’re done, be sure to check out our earlier articles about Alpha Structural, Inc. here, here, here, and here.
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#1
Somebody was preparing for the zombie apocalypse or something!
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#2
Pottery can be a very useful tool.
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#3
This is one of the craziest things that we’ve seen during our inspections. This owner had undermined almost the entirety of his home by digging underneath the slab and excavating around the piles. There had been a minor mudslide and they decided it would be a good idea to create more space underneath… The grade of soil used to be up to the concrete slab above. Believe it or not, the property had not yet been red-tagged.
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#4
I think this is the original.
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#5
Here is one of our Senior Structural Assessors, Kyle, inspecting a failed retaining wall. You can see the tie-backs used to hold the retaining wall upright didn’t work out too well.
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#6
If you don’t know what termite damage looks like, here is a great example. If you notice this around your house, I would call a termite guy right away.
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#7
This was a home we inspected with two sets of rotted stairs and plenty of interior cracking.
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#8
Please watch your step!
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#9
This was a crazy bridge structure we saw across from a home we inspected. Many of the supporting posts are bending as the soil erodes and the structure above begins to move.
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#10
The column was barely hanging together with just a small portion of the top and bottom staying connected.
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#11
I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your piers down!
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#12
This stilted deck has multiple rotting members holding up and you can see the warping and rotation where some of the lumber connects.
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#13
Do not jump on this deck if you enjoy living. Don’t even walk for that matter.
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#14
This failing retaining wall was bowing quite a bit and it didn’t help that it was connected to a section of the basement wall. This needs some attention asap!
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#15
Some nasty termite damage on an old girder.
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#16
Here’s a rubble wall that is supposedly holding up that corner of the home. Well, that corner is now sinking since the wall holds very little structural value.
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#17
This is a cripple wall that is bowing outward, causing movement in the units above. This is dangerous and could end in a collapse if not handled properly.
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#18
The termites stood no chance.
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#19
Here we have an eroded concrete pier that will more than likely be gone within a year or two.
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#20
Some good ol’ termite damage.
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#21
I guess the contractor who installed these didn’t know left from right, or up from down.
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#22
The concrete porch area has some major cracking and is slowing pulling away from the house.
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#23
This deck system has some bad rot and we are almost ready to start the repairs! There are some beautiful views of DTLA from this home as well. Luckily it had just rained so most of the smog was cleared.
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#24
This pier missed the mark and is now floating. To be fair, the expansive soil caused a ton of movement and the pier began to sink a long time ago.
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#25
A mousetrap was placed here just in case any of those pesky buggers managed to slip through the cracks!
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#26
There was a doubled joist acting as a beam in the center of the sub-floor. It was pretty rotted and was separating from the other joists.
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#27
“Jack-lift the house” they said. “It will be cool” they said.
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#28
Much of this has to be replaced.
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#29
This was a gnarly river rock foundation that was falling apart. Some say this is a rock-solid foundation, but those people must be stoned.
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#30
Here we have some damage dealt to a garden wall by a local FedEx driver.
At least it exposed the wall as being fragile and hollow. We’ll be proposing a new wall here that will be properly done with concrete and steel reinforcement. It does hold back a sizable slope, after all.
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#31
Much of the original metal connection hardware was rusted and bolted into what is now rotted wood supports.
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#32
This is actually a large retaining wall right next to the property we were brought out to inspect. It had a large vertical crack going all the way through and one side was severely displaced.
The ivy couldn’t even hide it from us.
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#33
Just posted up, chilling by the beach.
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#34
Here’s one last shot of the crawlspace access where you can see the framing has rotated outwards significantly. The concrete there is basically dust.
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#35
We are tearing up the concrete and perimeter drainage on this property to install proper waterproofing. Tons of rotted out framing was discovered after ripping open a few areas.
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#36
Most of the hardware holding this place together was fairly corroded and we recommended that the owner should explore replacing most of it.
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#37
When in doubt, shim it up.
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#38
Snake vs. lizard matchup. You can probably guess who won this battle.
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#39
Finally, somebody with good Jenga skills.
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#40
Waterproofing of a retaining wall that was done backwards. This material is supposed to be on the backside of the wall, not the down-slope section.
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#41
This is the end of one of the concrete walls holding up the slab.
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#42
The fact that electric boxes are hooked up to this post makes the shims not look so bad.
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#43
Poor little guy got stuck.
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#44
Two ends of a girder sitting on a compressed and sunken post & pier.
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#45
Allow me to pen this slab crack into my structural notes.
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#46
We come across these rubble walls quite often around LA and they’re usually all in a similar condition as this one.
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#47
This was a home that sat at the top of a steep slope. The concrete patio in the back started to sink due to the movement in the soil below. The creep of the soil eventually caused stress cracking to appear and the fencing to lean as well. A good amount of work is needed here.
Image credits: AlphaStructural
#48
Here’s some pretty significant rot damage to the main beam that is holding up a second story.
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#49
I think we will just add layers until it’s eventually higher than the Eiffel Tower.
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#50
A new member of our assessor team, Carlos, doing an inspection of some rotted framing.
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#51
We shared the original photos of this leaning building a while back, but now we are doing extensive repairs! I’ll be doing a full story post on this project tomorrow! Over many decades, pervasive termite damage took place and the entire apartment structure began to lean as the wood was eaten up.
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#52
The “pier pressure” is too much.
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#53
All sorts of wedges, shims and jacks were used to help support the framing, but that did very little to help the situation.
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#54
Here’s another concrete slab patio that has pretty significant cracking all over.
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#55
They also poured the concrete with different mixes and at different times. What a mess.
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#56
This was another contractor’s attempt at a sister foundation. It’s completely missing proper footings and much of the forming was left in place. Just another reason not to go with the cheapest option.
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#57
This was a slab crack that spanned all the way from the garage to the kitchen floor. It had lifted and cracked many tiles in the kitchen as well. So much so that the assessor was able to stick his pen in between the two sides of the concrete.
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#58
Here’s some interesting jacks holding up an old concrete float that is supporting the subfloor of this home.
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#59
Wood compression. The opposite of the one above this.
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#60
These elevated grade beams are breaking apart and you can see how badly rusted the beam saddles are.
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#61
This set of stairs is sinking to one side and beginning to pull away from the home.
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#62
This is normally what spall damage looks like before the concrete has broken off.
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#63
Here’s a concrete pier that is riddled with cracks. This is usually caused by a bad concrete mix, compression and lack of steel reinforcement.
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#64
Breaking apart a brittle foundation with just a pair of hands is a bad indication that your foundation needs some work!
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#65
Anyone want to join in on this crawl? Didn’t think so.
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#66
Here’s some of the cracking inside the home. This place was sitting on a bed of expansive soil. The foundation itself was in fairly good condition, but the home has moved so much that the interior began to pull apart.
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#67
A soil shelf underneath a home. This will continue to erode over time and potentially cause some settlement issues.
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#68
A runaway pier. It will never escape.
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#69
Here’s a leaky pipe that has caused some instability and rot damage in the surrounding subfloor.
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#70
Some major support joists just a tad bit off of their original place.
Image credits: AlphaStructural
Source: boredpanda.com